Labor & Employment Law

Green Labor Journal: 1 Million Green Jobs Came From Recovery Act

By James Parks

The Recovery Act’s green investments committed through the end of 2010 created or saved nearly 1 million jobs, according to a report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and the BlueGreen Alliance. This report provides evidence that the Recovery Act succeeded in responding to the nation’s economic crisis and that green investments create jobs while laying a foundation for the development of a 21st century green economy in the United States.

The March 2011 online edition of the Green Labor Journal spotlights the report, which was released last month on the two-year anniversary of the Recovery Act. Click here to read the full report.

The online journal also reports on the struggles of working people in Wisconsin to fight back against Gov. Scott Walker’s anti-worker agenda.

The journal also spotlights two important speeches from the 2011 Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference last month in Washington, D.C. In one, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker said workers and environmentalists are committed to making sure the new jobs in our economy are good and green jobs.

Good jobs that provide the wages and benefits needed to sustain families and enable them to buy the products we will be making. Good jobs that can put our economy back in working order. Good jobs that afford workers the opportunity to choose for themselves whether to join a union to have a strong voice on the job for quality American-made products and services.

The other featured speaker, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson, cited a 2010 study from the Institute of Clean Air Companies that estimated some 200,000 air pollution control jobs had been created because of the Clean Air Interstate Rule, which regulates pollution that crosses state lines.  The bottom line, Jackson said, is that we can protect the health of millions of American families and do so in a way that will benefit the economy.

 The Green Labor Journal is a collaboration between the National Labor College and the AFL-CIO Center for Green Jobs. Check out the latest online edition here.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on March 18, 2011 (boomark / email).